Michael Miller: Promise Keepers renews focus on promise

It won't be your daddy's or big brother's or grandpa's Promise Keepers that will hit Peoria on Aug. 8 and 9.

Michael Miller

It won't be your daddy's or big brother's or grandpa's Promise Keepers that will hit town Aug. 8 and 9.

Yes, the framework is the same. Speakers, worship, drama, comedy.

But the venerable men's ministry that filled stadiums in the mid-1990s and held a sold-out Peoria Civic Center conference in 2003 is taking a new operations attitude. Rather than descend from Sinai carrying the year's conference dates and locations inscribed in stone by the finger of God, PK is actually asking cities and the churches within them for their blessing and help.

"They got so big they would announce their own dates and PK ruled the world," said the Rev. Lyall Sutton. "It was in spite of the church, in a sense. Now they're trying to understand how they can serve the church, and the best way they can serve the church is to have these events to help men."

Sutton, an associate pastor at Bethany Baptist Church, has been a PK promoter since the men's ministry first came on the scene. He and Rich Gerberding, who puts out a monthly newsletter on men's ministry events, helped coordinate the visit of PK event director Larry Whittlesey to the Tri-County Area last week. Whittlesey met at churches and restaurants with ministers and lay leaders as well as Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis to gauge and build interest in the August event.

"We don't want to compete with the church, we want to become a tool in their tool belt," Whittlesey said while meeting with interested supporters over sesame chicken at Great Wall on Feb. 14.

He said the Peoria Civic Center arena is about as small of a venue as PK can use due to the $750,000 cost of putting on a conference. The $89 per-person fee only covers so much.

PK's reality check over the past few years has led it to not overextend itself through large numbers of national conferences and branch ministries.

In its growth period, PK was a national phenomenon, drawing hundreds of thousands of men per year to stadium conferences. Though it attracted criticism from feminists and some conservative Christians, PK mainly drew praise and support from evangelicals.

The problems started after founder Bill McCartney announced at 1997's Stand in the Gap gathering at the Mall in Washington, D.C., that 1998 and 1999 conferences would be free. Attendance fell. Layoffs were made. PK then switched to smaller-market cities and went on cruise control while other men's ministries, like Iron Sharpens Iron, GodMen and Man in the Mirror, began building. Churches "moved on without us," Whittlesey said.

In 2006, attendance dropped drastically to about 7,300 per conference. PK ended up $2 million in debt by the end of the year. Finances were such that during the closing months of 2006, PK's existence was day-to-day, Whittlesey said. Eleven conferences were canceled in 2007.

But things are looking good again. All of PK's 2007 bills and that $2 million debt were paid, thanks in large part to donations.

"Last year was an amazing turnaround," Whittlesey said. "The business model changed completely. Our board and our staff has finally figured out, 'This is who we are, this is what we do.' They actually have a growth budget for this year."

In other words, PK realized its limitations - financially and in ministry - and is starting to work within them. PK is also slowly starting to ask supporters in conference cities to share the cost.

And, as always, to share the burden of putting on the conference.

While here, Whittlesey was trying to pencil in names of people willing to take on leadership roles in various areas. Those leaders will then round up supervisors in more specific roles, who will look for volunteers to do various duties. In all, about 600 volunteers – two-thirds of whom usually end up being women, Whittlesey said - will be needed to run the conference.

That shouldn't be a problem, though, said Mike Fiedler of Richwoods Christian Church's men's ministry.

"I think you've got great momentum from the past," he said at the Great Wall meeting.

Which is exactly what the new approach is counting on.

Michael Miller covers religion for the Journal Star. Write to him in care of the Journal Star, 1 News Plaza, Peoria, IL 61643, or send e-mail to mmiller@pjstar.com. Comments may be published.